Nick set the scrubber down and leaned over, his elbows on the floor- his bad knee was screaming at him to take a break and he finally caved, rolling onto his butt and leaning against the wall. He kicked out to let it pop, garnering a sigh of relief. Meg chose that moment to exit the backroom as she had locked herself away to start insurance claims- she had finally relinquished herself to a break. She spotted Nick on the floor and sighed, crossing her arms. "I told you you needed rest."

Nick scoffed, closing his eyes and letting his head rest on the wall behind him. "It's my knee, nothing else. I shouldn't have been on it for so long." He'd attained the injury in one of his high school volleyball games- unfortunately for him, this was before the core, so the injury neglected to heal correctly, leaving him with chronic pain. "It has nothing to do with what happened last night, so I'm not gonna hear it. How's the paperwork going?"

Meg groaned in response, putting her face into her hands. "It's all so much to go through-” She came up to breathe, staring at the ceiling. “I think I'm gonna wait a bit and see if Rebecca can help me- she's been through this before with her cafe." Nick remembered that vividly- being without his favorite lunch diner for an entire week was rough on his spirits, he couldn't imagine how rough it was for Meg’s close friend, Rebecca.

"Alright," Nick started as he pulled himself up with a grunt, "how about we both give up on our endeavors and try to tackle them another time." Fine, maybe he did need rest. "I got most of the stain out, though."

Meg leaned to look at it, nodding. "You got a fair bit of it, I'm sure we can cover the rest with a big pot or something, don't sweat it. Go home and rest, give Leo a call, would you?" Nick nodded as he pulled his apron off and handed it to Meg, who smiled sweetly at him. “Careful on your way home, love- you’re gonna give me grays.”

Nick grinned at her. “That’s what I’m good for. I’ll see you-”

“Monday.” Meg interjected, her voice stern but kind. “Give yourself at least one more day, for me?”

Nick rolled his eyes and gave her a look that read ‘fine, but I’m gonna complain when I come back.’ He waved to Teno and exited the shop, pulling his phone out and checking for texts from Leo.

Nothing.

He frowned. It was roughly eleven AM now, surely Leo would be on lunch at the moment, right? He was shocked to see a lack of texts from the man and it worried him- what if he wasn’t as into him as he thought?

Nick quickly squashed the thought as his worries turned to Leo himself- was he alright? Did something happen? Was Leo on field work, or researching his core as he said he would? Nick stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to shoot him a text.

‘Morn! I’m fine, by the way. There are a few perks to my situation. You got a minute to talk about our reschedule?’

He sighed and locked his phone, shoving it in his back pocket and continuing his stride. Worrying about it would do nothing, and it wasn’t in his nature to do so at all- he left the worrying to Leo or his brother, whoever wanted to handle it at the moment. He decided instead to head towards the convenience store that Kato worked at- if he was gonna be stuck at home, he was going to have snacks.

He quietly shoved his way through the front door- as quiet as the ‘ding’ from the bell would let him, and perked up to see his friend Marcus at the counter. His friend perked up as well, and Nick would swear he’d always look like an excited dog- if he had a tail, it’d be wagging. Nick grinned and bounced up to the counter, leaning against it. “Didn’t know you were in today!”

“Sure am.” Marcus beamed, but his shoulders slumped and his smile became wry. “I tried to get today off, but Dean bailed and I didn’t want to leave Kato here alone.”

“Right! It’s your birthday, isn’t it?” Nick asked, tilting his head. “Sorry you gotta be here, then.”

Marcus shook his head, then paused to shrug as if he wasn’t sure what the correct response was. “Well, I’m not really bummed about being here- it’s a good distraction, actually. I’m scared as all hell of my exam tomorrow.” He hesitated and looked away, a weary smile on his face. “I don’t see why they’d find anything, but what if they do?”

Nick sighed, but easily understood his friend’s fears. The annual Nightingale exam was nothing to blink at, as every year you’d be thoroughly checked for any signs of signa possession. While regular check ups were recommended, this system was newer under Nero’s control of the organization. Luckily for his unaware friend,, Nick was able to easily discern if he had any hint of possession within him. Well, if he focused really hard he could tell- he wasn’t great at it yet, but he could do it- thinking about it, it was similar to the tracking abilities Lior possessed- something else to think about.

Nick smiled sweetly at him as he focused to gain any hint of an aura on him, grinning when he turned up empty. “You’ll be fine!” Nick stated with confidence, feeling content with Marcus’s sigh of relief at his attempted comfort.

“You think so?”

“I promise.” Nick replied. “When you’re done and you get the ‘you’re all good!’ letter, why don’t we get dinner with the others? We haven’t seen Kieran in a while, and I’m sure there are others from our team that would want to go.”

Marcus perked up again, his eyes bright with optimism. “That sounds fun! Can I pick where we go?”

“Yeah, duh.” Nick replied as he saw his brother walk out of the backroom, box in hand, and Kato stopped as soon as he spotted the other, immediately rolling his eyes. 

"Are you here to bug me or actually buy something?"

Nick gave his brother a cheeky grin. "Both. Don't act like you aren't getting paid to be annoyed by your older brother."

"If only that were always the case." Kato set the box down on the counter and leaned his hip on the same surface. "Did you get kicked out of work?"

"I got kicked out of work." Nick quickly confirmed with a sigh, crossing his arms. "Meg thinks I need rest, but I don't argue with her, so I left. I'm supposed to talk to Leo about rescheduling but he hasn't texted me back yet. I'm kind of worried, him being a Nightingale and all."

Kato scoffed, tilting his head. "I'm sure it's fine! Don't think too hard about it. Go home and take your anxiety out on some poor training dummies."

Nick thought about the suggestion for the moment- he could, it wasn't a bad idea. He had his bow and sword locked away in his bedroom closet, and training was usually his first go-to as a way to clear his mind or distract himself from his troubles. It would be a little boring on his own, but he'd manage. "Fine." Nick feigned annoyance and sighed, looking away with a pout. "Some pep talks you give."

"I learned that from you, y'know- the ‘don't worry about it’." Kato teased him with a grin. "I'm out at 4, save some energy and I'll work out with you when I get home."

Nick's nonexistent tail wagged at the thought and he huffed again, attempting to mask his excitement with indifference. "I guess…"

His drinks and snacks procured, Nick exited the shop with a few farewells and set off, putting his earbuds in for the short walk home. His finger glided over the glass screen of his phone as he worked to find a song that would itch that scratch in his brain, his frustration growing as he skipped song after song. He almost began to wonder why he even put half of these songs in his playlist if he were going to skip them over and over again.

As he skipped over another track a chill crawled up Nick's spine, making him lower his phone to concentrate on what was giving him that creeping feeling. As his eyes scanned the environment he took one of his earbuds out, putting all of his focus into finding what had given him such a jolt of anxiety. It wasn’t like he was an anxious person- it’d been years since he’d last had a panic attack at random, it was too out of character for him. It took a collective 20 seconds for Nick to realize what he was sensing was a signa- but to feel its presence so involuntarily was extremely off-putting, the hairs on his arms standing up, his back rigid with paranoia. 

What was worse, was Nick's inability to actually pinpoint where the signa was. With as many attacks as he'd encountered that month his brain grew weary at the thought of having to explain any new injuries to his mother, but the thrill of fighting something larger than him was too tempting to ignore. He could lure it to a more secluded spot where he'd be free to use his powers, or maybe his hand to hand could use some brushing up after last night-

Nick wasn't able to make a decision before the beast slammed down in his path, effectively pushing him back a good two feet or so. He caught his footing and glanced up to see the signa, much more humanoid than the last- it's face a series of eyes that blinked menacingly at him, sizing him up for the fight ahead. Nick immediately dropped his bag from the convenience store and glanced around at anything to defend himself with. 

Nothing.

He cursed- his mother had always begged him to carry some sort of knife on him, but would that really be enough anyway? He guessed it'd be better than nothing. The signa was quick to the attack and pulled him from his thoughts, Nick dodging the attack to skid backwards on the sidewalk. The beast- perhaps a level two- loomed slowly towards him, every single one of its eyes twitching, like they were all on the lookout for any possible threats.  Sure enough, they'd caught sight of a blade making quick work towards its position. It moved to the side to avoid it, the crystal-like weapon disappearing as quickly as it appeared, and Nick looked behind him to see Lior running up- a chain materializing to wrap around the signa and hold it in place.

Bound to the sidewalk now Lior swiftly tightened the grip on the signa until the pressure caused it to vanish, its form succumbing to the damage. Nick stared in awe and watched Lior recall the chains he'd summoned, stepping to pick up the core left behind. As he stood up he turned to Nick with a glare, and Nick stared back at him, unsure of what to say. At most, he attempted to match Lior's energy.

“You’re lucky it was such a low level.” Lior’s voice came out a low grumble as he looked around to scan for any more threats. “You shouldn’t walk around so distracted by trivial things like your phone.”